Filters For: Tea Bags

Brands Tested

Unit Price

The unit price gives a fair idea about the cheapest and costliest brands.

Among the tested brands, Twinings and Newby are the costliest brands; Tata is the cheapest followed by Wagh Bakri.

General Parameters

Packaging

As per the standards, black tea bag should be packed in clean, closed, and dry material that does not affect he quality and the flavour of the tea.

All brands were packed as per requirements.

Marking

The following particulars are mandatory for marking/labelling on packets of tea:

Name of the material and trademark, if any

Name and address of manufacturer

Batch or code number

Net weight in grams/no. of tea bags

Date of manufacture

Nutritional claim

Permitted additives

Maximum retail price

Tea Board registration number if a flavour is added

The words 'Best Before' (date to be given by the manufacturer)

'Green dot' marking for vegetarian status; standard mark if any

All brands except Lopchu had correct labelling; Lopchu's marking did not not have batch/code no. as required under FSS Regulations, 2011.

Metal Contaminants

Lead

As per Indian Standard, the lead content in tea bag shall not be morethan 10 mg/kg (ppm).

In all brands, lead content was found within the prescribed value.

The maximum lead content was found in Tetly at 0.964 pp,; the minimum was in Tata

Arsenic

Arsenic was not detected in any brand.

Cadmium

Cadmium was not detected in any brand.

Pesticide Residues

The tea samples were tested for the presence o organochlorine pesticides and organophosphorous pesticide (groups of pesticides).

The presence of pesticides in all brands was below the detection limit of 0.0050 ppm.

Note: Chlorpyrifos and malathion were found in Brooke Bond, Lopchu, Organic Nation, Tata and Tetley (chlorpyrifos 0.014-0.189 mg/kg and malathion(0.023-0.054 mg/kg). However, there are as yet no requirements regarding these in the national standards.

Sensory Tests

A panel was formed to carry out subjective sensory evaluation. Their critical views were taken for each brand examined and tasted by them. The tests were conducted within the closed environment of a lab.

The panel members rated each parameter on a scale of 1 to 5 where 5 stood for 'like very much', 4 "like moderately', 3 'just like', 2 'dislike slightly', 'dislike very much'.

Among the brands tested, Tetley was like the most followed by Brooke Bond.